Finding mobility in place attachment research: lessons for managed retreat
Climate change will affect many global landscapes in the future, requiring millions of people to move away from areas at risk from flooding, erosion, drought and extreme temperatures. The term managed retreat is increasingly used in the Global North to refer to the movement of people and infrastruct...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Climate |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2025.1514408/full |
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| author | Robin Willcocks-Musselman Robin Willcocks-Musselman Julia Baird Karen Foster Julia Woodhall-Melnik Kate Sherren |
| author_facet | Robin Willcocks-Musselman Robin Willcocks-Musselman Julia Baird Karen Foster Julia Woodhall-Melnik Kate Sherren |
| author_sort | Robin Willcocks-Musselman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Climate change will affect many global landscapes in the future, requiring millions of people to move away from areas at risk from flooding, erosion, drought and extreme temperatures. The term managed retreat is increasingly used in the Global North to refer to the movement of people and infrastructure away from climate risks. Managed retreat, however, has proven to be one of the most difficult climate adaptation options to undertake because of the complex economic, social-cultural and psychological factors that shape individual and community responses to the relocation process. Among these factors, place attachment is expected to shape the possibilities for managed retreat because relocation disrupts the bonds and identities that individuals and communities have invested in place. Research at the intersection of place attachment and managed retreat is limited, partially because these are complicated constructs, each with confusing terminologies. By viewing the concept of managed retreat as a form of mobility-based climate adaptation, this paper attempts to gain insights from other mobility-related fields. We find that place attachment and mobility research has contributed to the development of a more complex and dynamic view of place attachment: such research has explored the role of place attachment as either constraining or prompting decisions to relocate, and started to explore how the place attachment process responds to disruptions and influences recovery from relocation. Beyond informing managed retreat scholars and practitioners, this research synthesis identifies several areas that need more attention. These needs include more qualitative research to better understand the dualistic role of place attachments in decisions to relocate, more longitudinal research about relocation experiences to fully comprehend the place attachment process during and after relocation, and increased exploration of whether place attachments can help provide stability and continuity during relocation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e40f3e8efd0349cca23be1b3ec49ad60 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2624-9553 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
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| series | Frontiers in Climate |
| spelling | doaj-art-e40f3e8efd0349cca23be1b3ec49ad602025-02-11T07:00:06ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Climate2624-95532025-02-01710.3389/fclim.2025.15144081514408Finding mobility in place attachment research: lessons for managed retreatRobin Willcocks-Musselman0Robin Willcocks-Musselman1Julia Baird2Karen Foster3Julia Woodhall-Melnik4Kate Sherren5Faculty of Graduate Studies, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, CanadaFaculty of Science, School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, CanadaEnvironmental Sustainability Research Centre, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, CanadaDepartment of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, CanadaDepartment of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, University of New Brunswick, St. John, NB, CanadaFaculty of Science, School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, CanadaClimate change will affect many global landscapes in the future, requiring millions of people to move away from areas at risk from flooding, erosion, drought and extreme temperatures. The term managed retreat is increasingly used in the Global North to refer to the movement of people and infrastructure away from climate risks. Managed retreat, however, has proven to be one of the most difficult climate adaptation options to undertake because of the complex economic, social-cultural and psychological factors that shape individual and community responses to the relocation process. Among these factors, place attachment is expected to shape the possibilities for managed retreat because relocation disrupts the bonds and identities that individuals and communities have invested in place. Research at the intersection of place attachment and managed retreat is limited, partially because these are complicated constructs, each with confusing terminologies. By viewing the concept of managed retreat as a form of mobility-based climate adaptation, this paper attempts to gain insights from other mobility-related fields. We find that place attachment and mobility research has contributed to the development of a more complex and dynamic view of place attachment: such research has explored the role of place attachment as either constraining or prompting decisions to relocate, and started to explore how the place attachment process responds to disruptions and influences recovery from relocation. Beyond informing managed retreat scholars and practitioners, this research synthesis identifies several areas that need more attention. These needs include more qualitative research to better understand the dualistic role of place attachments in decisions to relocate, more longitudinal research about relocation experiences to fully comprehend the place attachment process during and after relocation, and increased exploration of whether place attachments can help provide stability and continuity during relocation.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2025.1514408/fullclimate adaptationclimate migrationdisaster recoveryforced relocationmanaged retreatmobility |
| spellingShingle | Robin Willcocks-Musselman Robin Willcocks-Musselman Julia Baird Karen Foster Julia Woodhall-Melnik Kate Sherren Finding mobility in place attachment research: lessons for managed retreat Frontiers in Climate climate adaptation climate migration disaster recovery forced relocation managed retreat mobility |
| title | Finding mobility in place attachment research: lessons for managed retreat |
| title_full | Finding mobility in place attachment research: lessons for managed retreat |
| title_fullStr | Finding mobility in place attachment research: lessons for managed retreat |
| title_full_unstemmed | Finding mobility in place attachment research: lessons for managed retreat |
| title_short | Finding mobility in place attachment research: lessons for managed retreat |
| title_sort | finding mobility in place attachment research lessons for managed retreat |
| topic | climate adaptation climate migration disaster recovery forced relocation managed retreat mobility |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2025.1514408/full |
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